Growing with God

Earlier, I sat in front of a computer for eight hours chugging Heine Brothers Coffee by morning and McAlister's tea by afternoon, invoicing work orders for service trucks.  It's not exciting work, but it keeps me busy and it pays the bills. I came home after picking up some online shopping orders, unloaded groceries, loaded the dishwasher, and was wrist deep in fresh potting soil by 7:30. 

I find joy in nurturing and sometimes reviving indoor plants, watching new roses bloom on my rose bushes and delight in plucking tomatoes from my garden beds outside. Right now, there's a droopy mini Monstera I am working at saving which I found water-logged at a local grocery store. After removing the crowded plant from its flimsy, plastic pot; its able to breathe again. Now the plant can continue to grow to its full potential in a healthy, nourishing environment in two sturdy ceramic pots. 

It's no coincidence that Jesus used agricultural parables often when speaking to the public.  The majority of people around Him would have had experiences working and living on farms, tending to livestock and harvesting crops.  So, it was natural for him to use these concepts in his storytelling to engage listeners and teach deep, meaningful allegorical tales.

Consider the Parable of the Sower, Matthew 13:1-23:

Jesus speaks of a sower who scatters seed, which falls on four different ground surfaces. The “by the way side” seed which slips through the farmer's hands becomes bird food. The stony ground has just enough soil for the seeds to germinate and start to grow, but then the seedlings burn up in the scorching sun.  The seeds on thorny ground grow, but the competing thorns choke out the healthy plants. The seeds on fertile ground thrive - producing successful crops.

What does each scenario represent?

1. The seed represents God's message. Just as a planted seed starts to grow, the word of God starts to deepen and grow within a person.
2. The hard ground is an example of someone who is hardened by sin.  The person hears but does not understand or ignores God's Word. Satan plucks the message away and prevents it from getting into the heart.
3. The seed on rocky soil represents having initial excitement and a yearning to know God, but not allowing God to fully grow in one's heart.  When difficult times come along an individual can easily give up or become "scorched by the sun" and their so-called Faith disintegrates.
4. The seed which falls in the thorns depicts one who seems to receive the Word, but whose heart is full of the things of this world. A person who allows riches, lust, power, etc., to take time and attention away from knowing God's Word.
5. The good ground portrays the person who truly hears and comprehends the Word of God—and then allows it to grow and flourish in their heart.

The moral Jesus taught with the Parable of the Sower is how important the state of our heart is to receiving the Word of God. Our salvation is demonstrated through the growth of our Faith, through our actions and choices after becoming rooted in God.

We can compare my wilting little Monstera to this tale. God wants us to be physically and spiritually healthy; in good, fertile soil; nourished by his Word.  After all, we have always been a part of the soil; created from the dust of the Earth (and a rib), formed by His hands.  Cultivation is literally in our bones.

We need not let our hearts wither away like a drowned plant in a cracked, cheap pot. We can allow God to carefully sow and tend to our hearts.